The Fairy King Maintains His Dignity
9:30 a.m., in front of Eunpyeong Gate 4.
The gate entrance that would normally throng like a marketplace was quiet.
Only twenty-seven people had gathered here.
Because the gate belonged to the Origin Guild, general hunter entry was restricted today for the guild personnel interviews.
And even if more had come, the atmosphere among the three remaining spots had already hardened with tension.
There were two reasons.
One was that this D-rank gate raid served as the final test for the interviewees.
The other was the presence of the interviewer herself.
Team Leader of Origin Guild Team 2, Han Yuseol.
An A-rank hunter known in Korea as the Sword Ghost.
"I never thought Hunter Han Yuseol would actually come."
"First time seeing her in person."
A few of the interviewees stole glances at her, yet none could properly meet her eyes before looking away.
The reason was none other than Han Yuseol's skill.
[A] Coercion.
It was why she was called the Sword Ghost, and why simply standing still was enough to fill other hunters with dread.
Though Coercion could be regulated, it was a passive skill that could never be turned completely off. Living as a hunter under that constant pressure had earned her no end of misunderstandings.
She might merely glance at a subordinate—
"I-I'm sorry!"
—and they would pale and apologize at once.
Or she might be quietly eating at a restaurant when a passing child took one look at her face and burst into tears.
"Waaaaaah!"
Even when she simply hunted monsters with diligence, the moniker Sword Ghost had somehow stuck to her.
All she had ever done was work hard.
After so many such incidents, she had long since reached a state of complete indifference whenever the situation arose. The blank expression she wore day to day had not become a passive for nothing.
She scanned the area and checked the names still missing.
The three porters had yet to arrive.
She planned to enter around ten, and there was still plenty of time, so she simply waited in silence.
"...?"
The figure was truly tiny.
Somewhere around 140 or 150 centimeters tall.
Yet her appearance was anything but ordinary.
Without realizing it, Han Yuseol let her habitual blank expression slip; her eyes widened and she blinked.
Whoa...
Half-lidded eyes and silvery hair that shimmered with a faint greenish luster.
The girl radiated a mysterious, gentle aura that simply did not belong in the real world. For a moment Han Yuseol even half-believed the scenery around the child had turned into a forest.
...Who is she?
No ordinary person, that much was certain.
The hair and eye color alone marked her as an Awakened.
But all the interviewees had already arrived, hadn't they?
Just then the girl looked around, spotted Han Yuseol, and began walking toward her.
What caught Han Yuseol's eye in that moment was the large backpack the girl wore.
Ah. Could it be—?
"Are you a porter?"
At Han Yuseol's words the girl gave a calm nod.
Why she remained silent was a mystery, yet her aura was so otherworldly that the silence itself did not feel strange.
Han Yuseol held out a clipboard and pen.
"Please check that the nickname and account number on this form are correct, then sign."
And at that exact moment—
"Pii."
—a tiny girl no larger than a palm popped out of the backpack.
Han Yuseol's eyes rounded once more.
...A fairy? Don't tell me it's a summon?
Then this girl was a summoner?
While she was still blinking in wonder—
"Pii!"
—the fairy snatched the pen in the girl's place and began writing the name.
Han Yuseol checked the name field the fairy had filled in.
Ellie... and she's twenty?
The atmosphere had been so mystical that treating her like a child had felt wrong, but she really was an adult after all.
Han Yuseol nodded and spoke.
"Please rest for a moment. I'll call you when we're ready."
Once again the girl only nodded without a word and walked away.
She simply sat on a bench a short distance from the crowd and rested. Even that quiet figure looked like a beautiful painting come to life.
...Huh?
Then, abruptly, Han Yuseol realized something.
Even though the girl had met her eyes directly, she had seemed completely fine.
A celebrity.
Right after seeing Han Yuseol—someone famous enough to be mentioned even on galleries—I nearly blurted out a certain phrase without thinking.
Damn, she's gorgeous.
Ding—
Dreamy King's Dignity is strongly activating.
The moment the notification floated before my eyes, the tension vanished—yet I couldn't even open my mouth.
Honestly, it was absurd.
A skill controlling its owner's actions?
Even so, I never imagined it would stop me from speaking.
Is my way of talking that crude?
Dreamy King's Dignity is strongly activating!
...Fine. The skill's probably more accurate than I am.
My speech really is pretty casual.
But she's not as scary as I expected.
Rumors about Han Yuseol had spread in a bad way.
Not personality issues—just that her face was supposedly terrifying.
If I had to put it into words, "scary" never crossed my mind; all I could think was how stunningly beautiful she was.
I couldn't understand why she wasn't more popular.
"Pii!"
Just then Pirong popped out of my bag again and looked around warily.
The little thing seemed to be standing guard over me.
We haven't even entered the gate yet, Pirong.
But our Pirong is seriously capable.
I never expected her to write the name for me, too.
And for such a tiny body she was ridiculously strong.
Worried my backpack might be too heavy, she kept gripping it and lifting it upward the whole time.
She really helps me out in every way.
I should buy her something delicious after work.
"Everyone, please gather."
Han Yuseol's voice rang out.
Looks like the guild interview was about to begin.
I rose from the bench and took my place among the porters.
Most of them were Double hunters, and quite a few were older men.
Before entering the gate, Han Yuseol explained the testing method to the interviewees.
"You are already familiar with your assigned roles. Proceed with the raid as you normally would according to those roles. I will evaluate the entire process, and results will be sent later via text."
Next she glanced over the porters standing behind the hunters and continued.
"Also, you will need to look after the porters during the raid. If a dangerous situation arises I will step in, but in that case you will receive point deductions. Is that understood?"
"Yes!"
Their vigorous reply echoed.
Han Yuseol nodded and walked over to stand in front of the gathered porters.
With the twenty interviewee hunters ahead of her, she opened her mouth.
"Good. Then enter."
At the concise signal the twenty hunters moved and stepped into the gate.
Once she confirmed they had all gone in, Han Yuseol turned her head toward the porters.
"Porters will enter one minute later. There are no special precautions. Just work as you usually do. Of course, any byproducts collected will go to our guild."
"Of course. With Hunter Han Yuseol herself here, what's there to worry about? We'll just focus on doing our jobs properly. Looking forward to working with you today."
That came from one of the porter uncles.
The easygoing tone suggested he was a veteran porter with some experience.
Of course, for all his relaxed speech he still couldn't properly look Han Yuseol in the eye.
Why is he like that?
"Yes. Looking forward to it. And..."
Just then Han Yuseol turned her gaze in a certain direction.
"...?"
As if she were looking straight at me—
"Never mind. One minute has passed, so let's go."
As though it had been a misunderstanding, she turned away first and started toward the gate.
I blinked in puzzlement, then simply followed the porter uncles into the gate.
The environment inside the gate was a wide cave of brown earth.
Calling it a burrow would have been more accurate.
The monsters dwelling here were called Zambi.
Black-furred creatures whose faces bristled with sharp shark-like teeth.
They stood about 150 centimeters tall—roughly my current height.
Anyway, a porter's job here was simple.
Extract the magic stones embedded in the bodies of monsters the hunters had slain.
Yet for some reason the uncles were being awfully kind.
"Miss, we'll pull the magic stones out of the monsters, so you just collect them for us."
"Leave the rough work to the uncles and gather all the magic stones to hand over to Hunter Yuseol later."
Is it because I look like this now?
The uncles were taking surprisingly good care of me.
"Want a chocolate bar, miss?"
Nod nod.
I accepted the chocolate bar one uncle offered, politely bowed my head in thanks, then went back to walking around picking up magic stones.
"Pii!"
Pirong helped out the whole time.
Is there anything our Pirong can't do?
Because of that I had more leisure than the other uncles to look around.
And sure enough, the Origin Guild interviewees were different.
Not just anyone could take the Origin Guild interview.
Only veterans who had already built a certain level of skill and experience in this industry got the chance.
As a result, even though there were twenty of them, they moved like a team that had breathed together for a long time.
Their formation never once fell into disorder, and the raid progressed far faster than expected.
"We'll rest here for ten minutes."
After about an hour of hunting, rest time finally arrived.
Hunters were still human; they couldn't pour out stamina indefinitely.
While everyone drank water or sat on the ground catching their breath, there was still work for a porter to do.
I took out the canned coffees I had packed and went around handing them out one by one.
"Huh? Miss, you're giving these out?"
Nod nod.
"Aigoo. Thanks, I'll enjoy it."
Taking care of the hunters during breaks was also part of a porter's job—something a hunter had told me the last time I worked as a porter.
Wondering if it was true, I had looked it up online and confirmed that hunters really did appreciate it when porters did that sort of thing.
In short, it was favorability farming.
It left a good impression, so they would hire you as a porter again next time.
Of course I shared with the porter uncles as well, not just the hunters.
"Thank you, miss."
"She's so demure. And she works so quietly and diligently."
"I always wanted a daughter like that."
...I ignored the uncles' comments floating from behind and finally headed toward Han Yuseol.
Even now she was still on watch without resting.
Everyone else was taking a break while she worked alone; it felt a little pitiful.
I approached Han Yuseol and held out a coffee.
"...?"
Her eyes rounded wide open.